The two continued their bickering until right beside Nestor. However, under the heavy gaze of the Captain, both Marco and the rude individual stopped for a moment.

"What? Little bitch, wanna tell me something, wanna get screwed up real good uh?"

Without further ado, he couldn't hold it in, it was simply too much for him. This tall guy, rocking a strange metallic attire, decided to act cocky all of a sudden as if anyone could do that right in front of his nose. Not before proving himself stronger. It could have been either the instructor or either personnel from the academy, he didn't care.

Not noticing the enlarged veins, exuding rage from all pores, popping from the side of Cole's head, the thug decided to teach him a lesson. A straight, kind, and unexpected punch right beneath the chin. That would definitely be a KO, to put this arrogant bastard to rest.

He did it yes! The punch landed home, and the cracking of bones resounded in the training grounds, making all the present silent from shock. Of course, his strength was sublime, he knew this much, but still breaking the knight's jaw should have been a little too much.

"I didn't mean to hurt him this much though. Oh, well, he must blame his weakness, only the strong can survive in this harsh world after all, hmp! Back in the streets, nobody dared to mess with me after all!"

The few moments of delight, however, didn't last as much. The man's tiny brain stopped releasing adrenalin, and as he looked further down, he noticed his right arm twisted at a weird angle. It had been broken so much that part of the bone protruded from the injury. The clean white mixed with blood and other colorful bodily fluids surely made one special view.

'Oh my, I have never seen such an injury not at least one caused by just brute strength. The Cole I fought through the mantra was this strong, to make him like this with his bare hands, means I clearly would have lost the fight in the first couple of hits.'

The barbaric, merciless display of the knight did scare many of the trainees, even both Marco and Nestor felt sorry for the guy.

"Tsk! To disrespect your superior in such blatant fashion, in the army you would have been sentenced to death. Here we are still in a supposed training facility, so that will do, for now. Tell me your name, so that I will make sure to discipline you through and through."

The poor trainee below, however, wasn't in the mood to answer the Captain in the slightest. With saliva oozing from his mouth, the rude thug was perhaps dreaming of a passionate encounter with a beautiful girl, back on his home planet.

A pity that Cole couldn't care less, a quick kick in the guts and the thug woke up, screaming in agony.

"Tell. Me. Your. Name."

Fortunately enough, the man had already experienced such painful encounters and somehow managed to hold in his sufferings. He slowly stood up and looked the knight in the eyes.

"My name is 'lick my balls, you cock sucker!', hahaha stupid. As if I would tell you!"

Hearing such a response, Cole stood still, without moving an inch. His expression is as cold as stone.

'So predictable, really. The more you want him to submit, the more wild his actions will be, I bet he's come here to anticipate the duel. I knew he wouldn't fully abide by the terms, but to come here this soon, he must have been quite angry at me. Stupid enough to get tricked by a monk.'

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

After only a few steps Cole already towered over the fool that dared to spit upon his mercy.

'I know that gaze, I've experienced it already when we followed Nestor's plan and hurt him in the eyes. The Captain is done playing games.'

A glint of pity surfaced on Marco's expression, as he already angered the Captain before, only that particular episode was considered part of their training.

"Everybody starts warming up, run along the borders of the grounds, once I'm done here we'll begin weapon training. Go!"

All the trainees scattered at once, they regrouped in small teams of acquaintances along the track.

"What a sneaky fellow, Green arrived while nobody was paying attention, Captain would have surely reprimanded him. Well, who am I to judge him, if not for Red distracting him I would have been punished as well. Isn't he too strict with us?

It's not like we are required to attend any of his training. Not that I dislike exercising my body, but still all this seems a little bit too much."

Marco wasn't as excited anymore at the thought of being disciplined under Cole's strict orders. Yet he was vastly underestimating an important factor, experience.

"This is the least you should expect from a veteran knight such as him. He must train the squadron under his command to the best of his abilities, soon enough you will realize why he's being as strict as he is."

Won's expression was calm, as his black eyes stared directly into Marco, who, soon enough realized to have been quite short-sighted.

'It's not like we can't understand what he means, it's true that if we wanted we could have avoided his barbaric training, but in doing so we would also endanger ourselves.

Although we have six months' worth of time, there is no reason for him to train us as hard as the first time.'

Even Nestor couldn't help but remain perplexed at thought of being, for each training, worked to the bone till unconscious.

"Huh? Wait, Marco, do you even know their names? Why did you call the Red and Green?"

Not caring much about more serious topics, the little Isaac, sitting over his sister's shoulders couldn't help but laugh at Marco's naming sense.

"What's the problem? They'll probably have strange names anyways like the two elves there. Pointy one and Pointy two. In short, One and Two.

Just look at red, he's as red as a lobster, even his teeth are red. I bet his blond hair is fake, he dyed them to look less 'ReD'!"

The group kept wondering if Marco was truly an idiot or if he was somehow hinting at some analysis of Red's character.

In the end, his euphoric laughing cut off all doubts. The guy was still pissed at the thug from earlier and wanted to slander him in front of the other trainees. Meanwhile, the couple of elves running ahead of Nestor's group were debating the bizarre nickname they had been assigned.

"Alais, I swear on the great moon that I will make this savage pay for his mockery. How dare he toy with the names our ancestors chose for us!

I will surprise and kill him in his sleep, then search for his family and kill each one of his relatives."

The sudden ire most typical of male elves, made Cohnal smooth facial features suddenly contract, transitioning his handsome appearance into a more barbaric, bloodthirsty expression.

'That is why the peak elven hierarchy is matriarchal, males cannot be trusted with important decisions. Ah, my Queen, what am I gonna do with this moron causing troubles everywhere we go, will we truly be able to prepare for the great migration?'

Flashes of times past echoed in Alais's mind, while she pondered about the uncertainties of the future and the heavy burden that had been placed on her shoulders.

"Calm down Cohnal, placate your anger, this is not Alpphael anymore and you can't do as you please. I'm sure that's a misunderstanding and we'll be able to resolve the matter with just words."

Cohnal loudly scoffed at his partner, accepting her decision. Of course not because he truly thought hers was the best way to go, but in the end what did he know?

Females were known to be smart, so he listened to her instructions, that was the elven hierarchy and even in a foreign environment, it mattered.

"Alright Red, I think this is enough. I've broken your arm enough so that you'd have to find a specialist to heal it properly and believe me, it won't be cheap.

Now, even if you tell me, I don't need your name anymore, as your colleague said, Red will do. You have two simple choices in front of you, you either die or chose to truthfully become a member of my squad, to diligently train alongside the other trainees.

Ah, and of course, no cursing allowed!"